Bursa opens on positive note
KUALA LUMPUR (March 15): Bursa Malaysia opened the week on a positive note, in sync with the performance of Wall Street and the oil market.
At 9.08am, the benchmark FBM KLCI had risen 5.03 points to 1,620.72 versus last Friday’s close at 1,615.69.
The index opened 3.93 points higher at 1.619.62.
On the broader market, gainers outpaced losers 393 to 208, while 353 counters were unchanged, 1,241 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 768.51 million units worth RM347.62 million.
Malacca Securities expects commodity and oil and gas (O&G) counters to get a boost as crude palm oil hit multi-year highs, while crude Brent oil continued to hover near US$70 (RM288.08) per barrel.
Overall, market sentiment on the local bourse will remain cautious ahead of the upcoming US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting, where it will deliver its decision on interest rates.
“Despite [the possibility that] the key index may be trading in cautious mode, traders may still look into recovery-themed stocks, such as [those in] the consumer, banking and construction sectors, amid lower Covid-19 daily confirmed cases currently below the 2,000 level,” it said in a note.
Meanwhile, the technology sector saw a mild pullback in early trade after a four-day rally, mirroring losses on the Nasdaq overnight.
US stock markets finished mostly higher as the Dow rose 0.9% with the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines making positive progress, but volatility in technology stocks kept a lid on the S&P 500 (+0.1%) gains and sent the Nasdaq lower (-0.6%).
Among the heavyweights today, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) had gained 11 sen to RM8.38, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd added six sen each to RM8.46, RM4.53 and RM10.12 respectively.
Top Glove Corp Bhd went up four sen to RM5.24, while Public Bank Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) lost one sen to RM4.31, RM4.22 and RM6.02 respectively.
Of the actives, GFM Services Bhd dropped 3.5 sen to 43.5 sen, Dynaciate Group Bhd rose half a sen to 15.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) advanced four sen to RM1.01 and Lambo Group Bhd was unchanged at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index inched up 21.53 points to 11,893.66, the FBMT 100 was 27.57 points higher at 11,566.44 and the FBM Emas Shariah ticked up 28.49 points to 13,164.49.
The FBM 70 was 4.95 points better at 15,656.95 and the FBM ACE declined 36.65 points to 10,628.54.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 57.20 points to 15,607.06, the Plantation Index improved 22.23 points to 7,159.01 and the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.42 points to 193.52.
Source: TheEdgeMarkets
